Toronto  The heart of Toronto's trendy Yorkville shopping district was shocked to a standstill Sunday after an explosion killed one man at a Tim Horton's outlet.

Police would not confirm early reports that a man had entered the washroom shortly before the blast with explosives strapped to his body.

Police Insp. Nick Memme confirmed that an explosion occurred in the washroom at the rear of the restaurant, but said few other details were immediately available.

"We're early on in the investigation, still," Insp. Memme said.

Witnesses reported hearing a loud bang; police said no one else was involved and there were no other injuries.

Eunice Almeida, 23, a regular patron of the Tim Hortons outlet, said she spoke to employees shortly after it was evacuated. One woman told her the blast was felt as a sudden shock through the store.

"There was an explosion in the men's washroom, then there was a stampede and everybody ran out," said Almeida.

A Tim Hortons spokesman confirmed the dead man was not an employee, but his identity was not immediately known.

Fire crews responding to the scene said there was still smoke in the air of the coffee shop when they arrived at around 1 p.m. after a 911 call.

"We weren't witness to an explosion and there was a very small amount of smoke upon our arrival," said fire department spokesman Daryl Fuglerud.

"It doesn't appear that we could see much of a fire."

Workers attempted to revive one man, but were unable to save him. Mr. Fuglerud said the man had burns to his body.

"We tried to work on him," he said.

The man's body remained inside the coffee shop hours after the blast while authorities cordoned off a block of busy Yonge Street and evacuated the area.

Gawkers had crowded on the sunny sidewalk along the yellow police tape and watched as a robotic bomb disposal unit was unloaded and sent into the building.

The cause of the blast remains uncertain.

"When the police say it's a safe scene, the fire marshal will be taking it over," said Mr. Fuglerud.

Several hours after the explosion, a crowd of employees were escorted away from the scene together with Tim Hortons District Manager Amin Islam. They appeared shaken, and some attempted to shield their faces from the throng of television cameras. They refused questions, but Islam said they were doing well.

"I'm just making sure they're going home safely," he said.

He said he learned of the incident on the radio and immediately rushed to the scene to see what he could do.

Yeah, and really, really SAD if he hadn't have fucked-up the wires, walked into the dinning area and taken who knows how many with him.

But yeah, to bad for the family...I guess, they may be better off.
Then again was he doing this..., before the BIG BANG?

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Assuming his family isn't invovled, I feel sorry for them and the fact that this will follow them, especially if he has kids. They may be better off in the long run, but having a unibomber in the family still sucks. Dunno why I have to explain that to ya.

Assuming his family isn't invovled, I feel sorry for them and the fact that this will follow them, especially if he has kids. They may be better off in the long run, but having a unibomber in the family still sucks. Dunno why I have to explain that to ya.

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You don't. They'll get over it. In ten minutes no one will remember anyway.

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